The Lady Tigers will aim to build off a winning season last year.
Ethel finished the year 13-12 that saw them reaching the first round of the Class 1A playoffs and will have Corey Parish coaching the girls’ squad for the first time.
This year’s team will only have four seniors, so it will be a youthful group.
The four seniors are Akilah Erving, Amiracle Edwards, Chiquita Merritt and Tylisha Meaders.
Erving returns as the leading scorer after averaging 21.1 points per game last year.
“We are going to lean heavily on our seniors and Akilah was the leading scorer not only on our team but in the division, so we are going to expect big things out of her,” Parish said. “We are a young team overall and have a lot of basketball to learn.”
Some other players that will play valuable roles for the Lady Tigers this year will be Zakiya Dotson, Takia Miller, Dejah Merritt and Stavianne Cain.
“We are guard-heavy and will attempt to be more uptempo this year and rely heavily on our defensive intensity,” Parish said. “We should be very competitive this season and I am very proud of their progress and hard work. Learning a new system on short notice ain’t easy, but they’ve met the challenge.”
The Lady Tigers started the 2018-2019 campaign off to a fast start by whipping the Lady Confederates 54-17 on Thursday night.
Akilah Erving had a game-high 23 points along with 11 rebounds, eight steals and six assists to lead Ethel, while Dejah Merritt added 12 points and eight rebounds for the Lady Tigers.
Chiquita Merritt had 10 rebounds for Ethel, while Zakiya Dotson had four steals for the Lady Tigers (1-0).
This week The Tigers and Lady Tigers were set to travel to Noxapater on Tuesday night and will participate in the J.Z. George Tournament on Wednesday, Thursday and Saturday and will face J.Z. George, Winona and Kosciusko.
